Spanish Inquisition: King Ferdinand II Of Argon And Queen Isabella I Of Spain

n 1478, King Ferdinand II of Argon and Queen Isabella I of Castile established the Spanish Inquisition. Many people from other religions, such as Judaism and Islam, converted to Christianity and the Inquisition guaranteed that those who converted really left their old religion behind. Specifically, there were Jews who converted to Christianity that were called the conversos, who were also known as the New Christians or Crypto-Jews. The conversos converted to escape anti-Semitism, to gain high positions and titles of nobility, to raise their social and economic status, or to make up for the loss of patience waiting for the messiah to come. There is a discussion as to who is to blame for the Inquisition, why it was instituted by the King, and
Before hand during the Golden Age in Spain there was peace and tolerance among the three religions, however, in the 14th century there were economic hardships that started to create tension and social unrest of the people living in Spain, which created anti Semitism towards the Jews. In 1391 there were uprisings across southern Spain, which gave the Jews an option to either convert to Christianity or to be killed. The Christians were taught to hate the Jews and they killed and stole from them. In the attempt to escape all the Anti Semitism, the Jews converted to Christianity. Even though the conversos said that they converted there was still a lot of resentment by the Spanish Christian population against the conversos and they wanted to stop the conversos from getting important positions in office. The animosity towards the conversos and the fear of their growth of power was a cause of the Inquisition. Many of the Spaniards did not know that they were related or descendants of conversos. King Ferdinand himself was a direct descendant of Jews through his maternal grandmother. There was a lot of anti-Semitism and hatred towards the conversos at this time in Spain. There was a debate of whether or not the conversos were really true Christians or they were in fact practicing Judaism in secret and were
In the book Conversos, Inquisition, and the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, the Inquisition written by Norman Roth it was the strong power in control of the conversos, not their believed heresy, that led to the hatred toward them and eventually the Inquisition. “If the conversos were such good Christians, why was there so much animosity against them among certain ’old Christians’ and why was the Inquisition initiated (or more correctly, reinitiated) ? Not all old Christians, of course, hated the conversos, yet a powerful minority did hate them and were ready literally to go to war against them. The reasons for this had to do with jealousy of their power, wealth, and influence.” (Roth, xix) Normsan Roth looks at the Madrid Bibliotheca National as his source for all manuscripts that date back to the time of the Inquisition. These manuscripts helped him understand why the Inquisition was put into effect and how the Jews were really treated at this time. The manuscripts are also first hand accounts of the King and Queen’s feelings toward the Jews and the relationship that other Spaniards or high-ranking officials had against the Jews or conversos during this period. In the second source The Spanish Inquisition by Joseph Perez states that While Queen Isabella tried to protect the conversos, ultimately she was convinced, with the king, to bring about